September 30, 2018

Poetic Vehicle

As a follow up to our last post, here are filmmaker Ken Burns' thoughtful and enlightening observations on how to tell a story:

In every film we’ve tried to look for a way to allow the audience space to leave the world that they are in…. How do I transit you from your incredibly busy and compelling life…and bring you to this moment.

You can’t force people into it by exaggerated drama, you need to say ‘ This is what happened, this is where we’re going to go, will you take my hand… can I lead you to that place?’

You have the facts in there but you deliver it in a kind of poetic vehicle that makes sense to people.